Daniel Hooper has come up with a number of tweaks to the iPad keyboard to make text entry better. Various websites are in awe, but the basic gist is something I've mentioned before: just implement a few arrow keys - default on many Android keyboards - and be done with it. Hooper uses gestures to perform the functions of the arrow keys, but they are non-discoverable and most likely error-prone (you'll hit the keys) - and thus more complex. Arrow keys. All I ask for.

"Hooper uses gestures to perform the functions of the arrow keys, but they are non-discoverable and most likely error-prone (you'll hit the keys) - and thus more complex.

Is this meant to be taken seriously? I can't tell since it's so ridiculous. "

It's perfectly true, though. Repeat keyboard swiping is annoyingly prone to side effects; gestures are less discoverable than visible keys; the sum of those two can be described as "more complex". What's ridiculous about that?

arrow keys are slow. you've got the classic cursor-delay problem instead of direct manipulation. imho the proposed solution is preferable. even though it is indeed rather non-discoverable. but so are gestures in general--nothing new there.